


Electric Love

by hirohamadugh



Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: BEACH FIC!!!, Belphie spoils MC by taking them up to the beach, First Kiss, Fluff, Lucifer interrupts before they get the chance to define the relationship, MC is my OC!, Not Beta Read, Other, Rated T just for language, Relationship Anxiety, completely self indulgent fic, more introspection of belphie, nervousness about boundaries, overall wholesome, she/they pronouns for my MC, those who have read my works before you know i love me some good diving into belphies FEELINGS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:13:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25398214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hirohamadugh/pseuds/hirohamadugh
Summary: When he realizes the human he'd taken a liking to was missing the sun and the surf, Belphegor takes it into his own hands to sneak them to the beach with him.
Relationships: Belphegor (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)/Original Character(s), Belphegor/Main Character (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)
Kudos: 38





	Electric Love

**Author's Note:**

> hello! thank you for taking interest in my work! this is a story that can be read on its own completely fine, but will make most sense following  
> my two other fics: Like a Starfish (the rewrite I did of lessons 4 to 16 where I tried to make it make a little more sense in why he does a complete 180 after the events of lesson 16) and Sun Drops and Starlight (Concerning missing the sun and Belphie singing an enchanted lullaby)! They're not necessary, but will just provide a much fuller experience should you wish to do so! hope you enjoy!!  
> also more info on the MC OC in this fic, Parker, can be found here: https://twitter.com/goodcrowmens/status/1272944232689475589?s=20 or on my instagram @lemonjelloarts!

“Oh, come ON,” Belphegor moaned, throwing his hands out dramatically and inadvertently demonstrating the title of baby brother as he tried to persuade Lucifer into caving to his ask of passage through the shortcut to the human world. “I like, double swear I’m over that all now, I’m not trying anything! I just think it would be enriching for me to grow as a demon-”

“Since when have you been interested in ‘growing yourself as a demon’?” The eldest brother put his pen down on his desk, pulling the reading glasses off his face as he deadpanned to his youngest sibling. “And you _double swear_? What are we, 500? I haven’t heard you say that since we were in Celestial Primary School.”

The Avatar of Sloth pouted, which certainly did nothing but add to the pride demon’s argument. “I’m not a Little D.!” He insisted, despite the childish behavior. “I don’t know what else I can say to convince you! I haven’t been up there in _eons_ , and if I’m to fully heal from all that happened I need to be exposed again, don’t you think?”

Lucifer was silent, and actually was in fact mulling over the idea. With a final clear of his throat, he slipped the spectacles back onto his face, returning his main focus to the paperwork in front of him. “Take Simeon upstairs with you. That way I know you won’t try anything.”

Belphie gaped, sputtering at the thought. “I do not need a _babysitter_!”  
“It’s not babysitting if you’re so insistently _not a little d._ , after all.” Lucifer cracked a smug grin up at his baby brother, wordlessly telling him checkmate. “Think of him as collateral. He doesn’t go, you don’t go. Those are the terms.”

The shorter demon huffed audibly, grumbling something that couldn’t be made out before gruffly agreeing. “Fine. I’ll take the angel with me.”

Narrator voice: He most certainly, did _not_ take the angel with him. And most certainly _did_ in fact have an ulterior motive instead.

**[CHAT FROM: comatose]**

**hey. Are you almost ready to go?**

Parker swiped clear the notification off of their D.D.D., tucking it away in their back pocket as they checked one last time that they had everything they were supposed to bring. Shortly after he had gained clearance from Lucifer to access the human world a few days ago, Belphegor had sought out his favorite human to hang around and invited them up with him, claiming he needed their ‘expertise on the matter’ to help him get around… yet also insisted they wear a bathing suit and pack a towel. Which was _awfully_ suspicious, if you asked them. Nevertheless, they played along, and therefore Parker shoved the towel and a tube of sunscreen into their drawstring backpack and slung it over their shoulders, before whipping the D.D.D. back out to send a reply.

**[CHAT TO: comatose]**

**Well look who is up and at em so early in the day, hm?**

**[CHAT TO: comatose]**

**Yeah. I’m ready for your ~super secret definitely not a beach day~ beach day :]**

**[CHAT FROM: comatose]**

**i never said anything about the beach!!!!**

**[CHAT FROM: comatose]**

**fine!! trip cancelled if you don’t wanna go so bad!!!!**

Parker couldn’t help but laugh at his overdramatics, crossing their room to their door before stopping and texting back.

**[CHAT TO: comatose]**

**I can hear you right outside my door, dumbass-**

**[CHAT FROM: comatose]**

**I AM NOT**

The human ripped open the door to reveal the demon in question standing just on the other side of it as promised, and he knit his eyebrows down in flustered surprise at not even being given time to hide. “You were saying?”

“Hmph,” was all she got in response, which was Belphegorian for “I don’t have a comeback”. She had grown quite familiar with it lately, and had to stifle a giggle at it now as they shoved past him and out into the hallway too, shutting their bedroom door behind them. Their friendship was growing more and more stable the longer time had passed, and with more comfortability came more teasing.

“Board shorts…?” Parker inquired, noticing the brightly patterned bottoms Belphegor had on. They grinned widely, readjusting their drawstring’s straps as they raised an eyebrow at his choice in non-sweatpants. “Verrrrry casual for a not-beach-day, if you ask me.”

The demon crossed his arms over the hoodie fabric on his chest, which was much more present to protect his pale skin as opposed to for warmth with how thin it was. “You’re making me regret this already.”

“Oh come onnnnn, Belphie, you look so cute in them!” She reached up and pinched one of his color-dusted cheeks in taunt, and even laughed despite the fact it had earned her a sneer in return. He didn’t speak any further on the subject though, far too flustered by any compliment of theirs to do so. Parker just beamed in satisfaction of reducing the ever-witty Belphegor to silence, practically skipping down the hall of the House of Lamentation as he followed sulking in tow. They were absolutely infuriating and intoxicating all at once, and the only one who could match his taunts to his standard of liking, which put him over and over into situations like this: bending over backwards to go out of his way for them only to make a fool of himself and for them to snicker the last laugh.

He was so thankful things turned out like this.

Things had palpably changed two weeks prior, when he had found them up in the planetarium and they had mentioned missing the sun and the beach, which sparked this entire idea for a surprise visit in the first place. They had called him their friend, for once, and ever since then, things had settled in more spectacularly than he could have ever even dreamed of. They pranked each other harmlessly, exchanged good-natured shoves when appropriate, scoffed at one another upon entering a room, and Parker had even fallen asleep slumped on his shoulder during an animated movie night Leviathan insisted the entire family attend. They were all heart-racing, picture perfect things in Belphegor’s eyes, yet he still found himself questioning them. What if he overstepped a boundary? What if he was reading too much into things, if her jabs weren’t playful after all, if every step forward had been simply an accident and coincidence?

His fingers shaking in uncertainty of the action, Belphegor grabbed both of Parker’s shoulders and steered them down the alleyway containing the secret shortcut entrance once they’d reached it in downtown, his grip a little tighter than it probably should have been from his nerves acting up and constant wondering if this was okay. He was thankful they were wearing a baggy t-shirt and that his hands made no contact with her actual skin, because then she couldn’t feel how clammy they were (and also the fact that every time they _did_ have any skin-to-skin contact, it burned him for hours after). “This way, starfish.”

Parker’s shoulders drooped at the nickname, and although it was fleeting, he caught the softened glance they shot back at him and his chest crumpled, so he made a mental note to start incorporating that more often in hopes of earning it again. “Lucifer put me in as having access, so let me go first, yeah?”

He opened the shoddy hidden door to the other realms and input his identification, scanning his fingerprint as proof he was in the system to utilize it, and thanked every star hung in the devildom sky that Lucifer had just put it in as ‘Belphie + Guest” instead of inputting a whole new profile for Simeon, because that would have made things a _lot_ harder to pull off. The portal swirled colorfully, before morphing to the destination he had requested and Belphie stepped into it, appearing a little distorted on the other side. “Come on in,” he beckoned, a smile on his face for once to reassure Parker when he saw their uncertainty, “the water’s fine!”

She stepped through after him with a tiny smile adorning her lips, tugging him by the backpack strap in delight at the refracted sunlight hitting her skin. It was so warm and inviting, and even though it was an overcast day, the human still found themselves covering their eyes that crinkled in the corners. “Oh,” she breathed, the lopsided grin on her face toothy as she tore out onto the empty sidewalk, dragging the demon with her. “Belphie, it’s beautiful!” She spoke with absolutely no irony behind her voice and with the excitement of someone arriving at their vacation destination, despite the fact that where Belphegor had brought them was a nondescript, small cloudy town in Scotland. “Thank you,” Parker whirled back to face him, her eyes now wider than he’d ever seen them, and he had to cover his mouth to mask the strangled squeak that escaped it as he diverted her attention from his surely-pinkening face over to the foredune flora that littered the sandy mounds, able to hear the surf faintly even from where the portal had spat them out.

“Well well well, here we are…!” Taking his bait, the human broke her eye contact with him and let go of her hold on his backpack straps, turning and gasping theatrically. Belphegor let out a breath he hadn’t known he had been holding when she turned away from him. He didn’t follow her gaze to take in the sight with her, but rather watched with a small smirk on his lips at how their face lit up and truly shone in the bright of day in a way he’d never gotten to see it before in the artificial lighting of the devildom.

“Ohhhhh I knew it! I knew it I knew it you’re such a bad liar!” Parker grinned over at him for just a fleeting second, but it felt like a year. They were bouncing on the balls of their feet in excitement like a small child in a candy store, and took off into the sandy path that broke between the looming dunes, leaving him long in the dust.

The demon couldn’t help but laugh at her behavior, already secure in that his efforts to arrange for this trip were far beyond worth it. He followed them up the path at a brisk walk as to not lose track of the little energizer bunny that he could hear gasping, even from a few meters behind them. “Ohhhh!” They cried out again, flitting attention back to him briefly, and for a moment Belphie almost feared they might cry from the overwhelming emotion of it all, which hastened his pace significantly as the hustled up beside them. “It’s beautiful!” They repeated, covering their mouth with their hands as they watched the frothy seafoam crash in the wave as it collided with the tideline. “There’s not even anyone here! We have the whole place to ourselves!!” The human’s glossy eyes were torn away from the water’s edge as they looked down the beach, and true to their word, not a single other soul was in sight. “I mean, I know it’s not a _perfect_ day out for the beach by most’s standards, but…?” She looked back up at him only to find a very prideful and sinister grin on his lips. “ _What_ did you _do._ ”

“Well let’s just say this town is notoriously… superstitious!” He beamed and threw his hands up for pizzazz, before feigning worry and looking over his shoulder. “Lots of witches around here, and you know, we best be careful, I _did_ hear a rumor going around that there would be a _real life demon_ in the area today!! We’re going to have to keep our eyes peeled, they’re very dangerous after all, wouldn’t want to get mixed up with one!!”

Laughing loudly at his display of dramatics, Parker shook her head harder the longer Belphegor went on. “You’re so…!” Only emitting a small grunt to finish the sentence, they jumped on him in a tight hug of thanks, the taller demon having to catch them with a loud _oof!_ as they squeezed his torso. “You’re too much!!” They insisted, and this time it was Belphegor’s turn to let out a small chuckle in reply.

“So I’ve been told. Most notably by you, pretty much every other breath.” Parker walloped his chest in return for the wise crack, and he put her down, not wanting her hand to linger there and feel how loudly the organ inside of it was thumping at the affectionate embrace. Swallowing thickly and in desperate attempt to once again divert them from his own flustering, Belphegor jut his chin out towards the water and gestured to shoo them. “Go on, brat. I can see you just itching to go for a swim, I’ll take care of settling in a spot and getting my beach nap on.”

Parker had shredded off their baggy shirt and drawstring before he’d even finished the sentence, pegging them at him and taking off at full stride towards the waves, her ‘bathing suit’ apparently merely the sports bra and running shorts she’d worn up here. He smiled to himself as he watched her go: it was endearing, to see someone so crass and so headstrong acting so giddy like a child, and to know that he was the one who made it happen strangled him in the best way possible. She disappeared up to her shoulders as a wave crashed over her body, and the wide smile on her lips could even be seen from here, which made him snicker. For so long he had been so wrong in trying to convince himself the flutter in his chest whenever he saw them so happy was hatred, when in reality that was just misdiagnosed.

Slipping the sunglasses he had packed out of his backpack’s side pocket and onto his face, Belphegor maneuvered down the beach and settled on a flat spot that wasn’t too far from the water, but wasn’t close enough to be swept away by the tide either. He spread out a large blanket and shoved his backpack and Parker’s drawstring in two of the corners, putting water bottles he’d brought to pin down the remaining two. Digging out the second blanket he’d had stuffed in the backpack as well (since two blankets were of course, essential), the demon nestled himself in for a proper nap with all the warmth of the diffused-by-cloud sunlight and none of the chill from the consistent breeze, and curled up facing downwind so sand wouldn’t berate him in his sleep in case it picked up. He slipped unconscious in a near record time of 2 minutes and 12 seconds, and didn’t even so much as stir for over an hour when Parker returned to the blanket from the surf, having had their fun and now wanting to spend some time on the sand, as well.

“Ooooh!” Parker shivered as they bristled up the wrack line until they reached the blanket, holding their upper arms and shivering from the wind hitting their wet skin. They stood over the sleeping Belphegor once they’d reached the blanket and shook a little in trying to decide on whether or not she wanted to disturb him when he looked so peaceful, but apparently, that was enough. A few droplets from her hair dribbled down onto an exposed sliver of calf that hadn’t made it under the top blanket, and the demon recoiled outwardly and violently.

“EEEEEEEEEEEE!” He squealed, eyes flying open and knitting down in a glare at the human at fault for his icy attack, but the intimidation factor was severely minimized by the fact he still had the blanket bundled around his face and over his nose from being all cuddled in. “ColD! You’re so COLD!!” He hissed, but the dramatic reaction was enough to turn Parker from considerate to devilish, as they let out a maniacal snicker and simply stepped even closer, before deliberately bunching up the loose fabric of their athletic shorts and wringing it out over him, much to his chagrin. “EY!” He squirmed, desperately trying to scoot away from her as he spat out a slew of curses, all _very_ much to Parker’s enjoyment. “You little-!”

They crouched down and grabbed the second blanket in fistfuls, trying to pry it from him to bundle themselves in its warmth instead, but the demon was absolutely not having it. “You’re right, I am cold,” she insisted, giving it another yank and flashing him a mischievous grin. “So give this to ME!”

“Not over Lucifer’s dead body!!” He snapped back, wrapping himself within it for more leverage before tugging it sharply, tearing the girl down onto the blanket with him. He chuckled, and it earned him a shove as they began to all-out wrestle for the rights to the blanket, any semblance of trying to stay dry completely lost, since he didn’t care anymore as long as he _won_. They tumbled and rippled up the blanket that had kept them off the sand in all their fisticuffs, scrunching it into a crescent shape as they both pulled and elbowed each other and rolled around in their strife, all whilst screaming at each other the entire time. Belphegor saw an opening and scooped Parker off the ground a bit before slamming their back into the sand with a sense of finality, pinning them down with his own body hovering over theirs and baring his teeth in the height of their feigned aggression. Parker grunted as the wind left their chest before laughing at how riled up she’d managed to get him, having to wipe their eyes from tears of mirth as their laugh bellowed out across the entire beach, echoing off the dunes and completely surrounding them as Belphegor’s mind caught up with his body and began to process it all.

She wasn’t scared of him in the slightest. Here they were, him having trapped her to the ground and leering over her with a sneer, and she _laughed_. Laughed like this was the best day of her life. There wasn’t a single ounce of the old them in neither the demon nor the human; no malice, no fear, no threatening. Parker really did trust him. They didn’t even tense up once. They just _laughed_.

“Fine, fine,” the human begrudgingly and playfully surrendered through another giggle, “I suppose you win, but you can’t hog it!!”

He didn’t hear them. He was just now realizing just how _close_ the two of them were and having a good and proper panic about it, brain short circuiting as his eyes flitted widely all over their face. It only got worse when Parker draped their hands over his shoulders with a small smile still stuck on their lips from the laughing fit, staring up directly at him now with a more somber tone. “Thank you, again,” she spoke, and he suddenly wondered if he had gotten sunburnt in his sleep, for his face and ears and neck where her fingers skimmed the edge of the hoodie’s fabric was simply unbearably radiant of heat. He absolutely bolted upright, unable to handle it any longer and in great fear he was unwelcomely caging them in by looming over any longer, and broke all points of contact as he sat stiff and proper as a board, teeth leaving marks on his tongue with how hard he was biting it in nervousness. He saw that the transition had been awkward and heard the human let out a small noise at the sudden change and unfroze just enough to help them sit up as well, locking grip on each other’s wrists until they were up off the sand as well, sitting on the bunched up beach blanket right beside him. They wormed their way in to a share of the now-splotchy wet top blanket with a small smile and tucked it around their shoulders cozily, taking great means of reveling in the leftover heat that had yet to dissipate from Belphegor’s nap under it. “Thank you,” they repeated softly, peeking up at him with a meaningful look on their face, and the demon sputtered, still dizzied from the close range.

“You keep thanking me over and over, I-! You! Uh, You don’t have to!!” He practically spat out. You know, very gracefully. “It’s not a huge deal or anything…!”

Parker pressed their lips together in a softened small smile, reaching up and brushing the demon’s long hair out of his eyes, tucking it back behind his ear so they could see both of them now. Belphegor swore his skin crisped up and burned off under their touch right then and there. “It is to me,” they said matter-of-factly, before giving a small nod to reinforce their statement. “You knew how much I missed the human world beach, and you went all this way out of your way just to take me up here to visit. That’s a huge deal for me, so I’m going to say it a thousand times more: thank you, Belphegor.”

His full name. For some reason his elbows wobbled as it left her lips, and he quivered at the sensation that ran through his body and fumbled out a response that was perhaps a bit more honest than he had intended to reveal: “Of course I did all of this. I would do so much more- anything, really- to make you happy.”

Parker gasped in a way he knew meant _blackmail_ , and he quickly turned defensive. “No! Don’t you dare!! Don’t get the wrong idea…!!”

It was too late, based on the shit-eating grin on her lips. “OOOOOOOOOOH NO TAKE BACKSIES!!! Belphie liiiiiiiiikes me~ He would do anyyyyything for me~” She sung her words, inching closer and closer just to tease.

“N-No! That came out wrong, you’re mixing up my words!” He defiantly denied, even though both knew that was certainly not the case and he had meant what he said exactly as he said it.

Parker put a hand on his chest and leaned forward with a smug look on their face, shaking their head slightly as they continued. “He thinks I’m woooonderful~ I’m his faaaavoriteee~!”  
Belphie scoffed in attempt to hide how flustered he was, leaning back in vain of the losing battle as she continued to press forward. “I-I NEVER SAID ANY OF THAT, NOW YOU’RE JUST PUTTING WORDS INTO MY MOUTH-!” The human’s nose bumped into his, and his breath hitched, feeling hers hit his skin as she sung more quietly now since they were so close.

“He’s in denialllll~ He thinks I’m goooooorgeous~”

“I-I…!!” The demon’s hand practically acted on a mind of its own as he fumbled for words, instinctively ghosting over the side of her neck gently, thumb pressing on her jawline, which she took as a green light and okay to shut him up before he could half-ass another excuse.

Grabbing his chin with her hand, Parker moved forward to close the final gap between them and press their lips to his. A strangled squeak escaped from his chest but was muffled as he was caught by surprise, a quiet _whoosh_ that was practically swallowed by the sounds of waves coming from the fact his tail and horns immediately and involuntarily manifested on the physical plane in excitement, his brain showing nothing but a big error message as he was frozen in place. _Holy shit holy shit is this real is any of this real am I dreaming am I still asleep holy fuck what if they don’t mean it what if I overstep or hurt them again what if they’ll regret this later who am I to think they mean this there’s no way they mean this they must be caught up in the moment this is too quick of a recovery there’s no way they like you you’re a monster so BELPHEGOR STOP TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THAT STOP KISSING HER_!

Squeezing his eyes shut and doing what was no exaggeration one of the most difficult things he had ever done, the demon of sloth weakly turned his face downwards just enough to break the two apart. His mind was throbbing and fire coursed all through his body as he was quick to bumble out any words that reached his tongue all at once in a breathy whisper, too overwhelmed with conflict on wanting to be selfish vs wanting to do what was right for once to manage to put a voice behind them. “A-Are you sure?” His speech was broken and uneven, and his other hand that hadn’t been cupping their cheek covered the one that held his chin, and he gasped out a shattered exhale as the emotions all balled into a lump in his throat. “About t-this?” He forced himself to look them in the eye now, and only found concern and care laden in the gaze he met. “A-Are you sure this is okay w-with you? I…” He squeezed their hand beneath his own and for some god-forsaken reason actually felt tears welling up behind his eyes, and whether it was from sheer emotional high or the fear of rejection, he truthfully didn’t know. “I-I don’t want you to regret th-this later. I-I don’t want to make you unc-comfortable ever again, Parker.”

They pressed their lips together as they nodded wordlessly, choking out a relieved laugh that betrayed to him they were not immune to the rush of feelings that had arisen either. Their other hand that wasn’t beneath his affectionately twirled in the white hairs on the nape of his neck as she shook her head, cracking a smile up at him. “No take backsies,” she repeated softly, and in a way that meant it and conveyed they really didn’t regret it one bit. Reaching behind him to grab the thin hood, Parker pulled it up and draped it over his horns, smirking as they did what both of them do best: tease. “You know, you’re going to get us hexed, having these out in the open up here.” He scrunched his nose and narrowed his eyes as she continued, the smile only growing wider as she did so. “Lots of witches around here, you know,” they parroted him from earlier, doing an absolutely TERRIBLE job at mimicking his voice before breaking out into a giggle at his indignant scoff.

“I do _not_ sound like that,” Belphegor insisted with a huff, and swallowed all his nervousness to surge forward and kiss them again before Parker could so much as even think of a quip back. The shorter human laughed against his lips in victory and the both of them actually allowed themselves to relish in what was happening this time around; Parker tasted like salt from being in the water, but Belphegor didn’t care. He was too busy shutting up all the negative voices in his head and focusing on the electric love that struck him via her touch, his tail thumping on the sand audibly as a result from all the butterflies rampant within him. Parker felt a weight they hadn’t realized they’d been carrying all this time lift off their chest as they hooked their hands around either side of his jaw, capturing everything that had happened since they met up until this moment- the highs, the lows, the times they hated each other, the times they secretly wanted to be together more- all of it, it was _all_ caught between them now, before washing away with the receding tide in favor of the possibilities of what lie ahead.

They tore apart only when they had to, as both were breathless, eyes still shut briefly as their foreheads rested against one another. But no moment stayed tender for too long, of course. That simply wasn’t them.

“Eugh,” the demon fake-scoffed, his eyes fluttering open just a crack as the corner of his lip curled upwards in anticipation of their reaction to it. “Gross.”

Grinning widely, Parker played along, scrunching their nose and shoving at his chest, a dramatic gasp leaving their lips as they quickly grabbed hold of their ponytail and wrung it out all over the Avatar of Sloth, absolutely soaking his thin hoodie with icy seawater and practically sending him into a state of shock. Which, luckily for Parker, was just enough time to scramble to their feet and absolutely BOOK IT away from him, sniggering all the while. “OH,” Belphegor bellowed, shoving himself up to stand as well before taking off after them. “NOW YOU HAVE ASKED FOR IT!!”

Parker made it calf-deep into the surf before the sleepy demon caught them and immediately lifted them into the air, and they squealed as he did so. Belphegor threw them over his shoulder as they both laughed jubilantly; it was a picture perfect moment, one they would probably both remember for years and years to come. “Brat,” he hissed between laughs, and she grabbed hold of the back of his hoodie in fistfuls, denying him a response as he carted his prize back to the blankets, threatening to drop her on the sand a few times before he actually let her down to her feet. It was the loudest he had heard them laugh and the biggest smile he had seen on their face in all the time he had known them, and it made his heart skip a few beats.

“Alright alright,” they breathed out, pushing some wet hair that had clung to her face back as she spoke. “We should get back soon. It’s been a few hours, and I could really go for some Hell’s Kitchen takeaway. Plus, I don’t _actually_ want to run the risk of getting hexed. Spells give me the heebie jeebies.”

Belphie smoothed both hands atop his head, and with the movement, his horns and tail were gone, and he was human-passing once more, just for their peace of mind despite the fact there wasn’t a single person in sight anyways. Parker had begun to bunch up the wet blanket into a ball and stuff it into the backpack he had brought, but he grabbed their wrist to stop them and gain their attention.

They looked up at him with a knit brow, and he moved his other hand to rest over their arm too, eyes softening as he stared into hers. “Are you sure you’re okay with going back?” He skimmed his thumb along their skin, wanting to make sure he wasn’t shorting them out of any sunlight. “We can stay longer, if you’d like. Unless you didn’t like it? Then we can go to an even better beach, I’ll have Satan wire us some human-world Grimm or whatever your currency is, and-”

“I had fun.” Parker reassured him and dropped the blanket to cover his hand with hers, speaking earnestly. “I had tons of fun, this was the best ever Belphie, and I’ll go back to thanking you over and over if I have to in order to prove it to you.” They beamed, their shoulders relaxing down a little as they looked up at him. “I _really really_ enjoyed coming here and just getting to be around all the things that mean the most to me. But I get to take at least one of those things back down to the Devildom with me, don’t I?”

They tucked a stray wet strand of hair behind their ear once more and went back to packing up as Belphegor digested that, his chest bubbling in a mix of feelings he wasn’t sure he could place. All he knew was that while they were scary to experience, at the same time… He kind-of liked them.

Helping her shove the last corner of the bigger blanket into his backpack and zipping it up, Belphegor scooped up her drawstring and passed it to her, before slinging his own straps over his shoulders too. “Let’s go home, then,” he agreed, and found a much smaller hand slipped within his own as Parker took up residence on his right arm. There was no way it could have been pleasant: his palms were clammy, and his fingers shook a little in nervousness that he would misstep and ruin things with them, but whenever they did Parker simply squeezed them tighter to make it stop. So long, so very long they had known each other with no physical contact, always a barrier between them. It almost bewildered him to process that here he was now, in the human world, walking on the beach with their hand in his, just a few months later. Still, there was one thing that was constant after all- it was the two of them. It was always just the two of them, together. And that had always been enough.

They made it back to the portal perfectly hex-free, for anyone keeping score back home, and Belphie did take them straight to Hell’s Kitchen, as requested. He even treated them to the meal, and agreed to split one of the prepackaged cookies at the register with them for dessert. They made sure to eat at one of the common tables in the downtown area as opposed to bringing it home, because if Beel caught whiff that they had gone to Hell’s Kitchen _without him_ , they’d surely be dead for such a crime. The meal was tasty, as they always were, but Belphie couldn’t help but find himself distracted the entire time he ate. What did today mean, exactly? Going forward, what was considered normal for them? Was this a one time thing, or were they looking for it to become like regular now? Was it like an I-Like-You kiss, or just a thank you kiss?? Did he like them back??

[Spoiler alert: the answer to that one he already knew, even if he was afraid to admit it.]

He hadn’t even noticed that as he was eating the noodle bowl he’d ordered, some of the sauce had splattered onto the corner of his mouth. At least, not until Parker took it upon themselves to wipe it off of him with their thumb and eat it cheekily, her eyes crinkling at the corners when she smiled with her mouth closed.

Was that normal too? Or had some sort of touching barrier been broken, and if so, what were the new rules of comfortability?

The demon opened his mouth to voice his questions, just to make sure he didn’t overstep any boundaries, when his D.D.D rang loudly and interrupted his moment. Fishing it out of his pocket, he saw the screen lighting up with ‘ZZZ DO NOT ANSWER’ along with a photo of Lucifer he’d scribbled on, and rejected the call swiftly and dropped the phone to the table. “Anyways,” he leaned forward onto one of his elbows, looking at the human sitting across from him once again. “Parker, I wanted t-”

The ringing began again, and from its spot on the table Parker could see the screen, and let out a quiet snicker, knowing how Belphie still held some underlying distaste for his eldest brother. “You going to answer it?”

“No,” Belphegor answered immediately, once again sending the demon of pride to voicemail. “Whatever he wants, it surely isn’t good.” Rolling his eyes for good measure, he heaved a small sigh, shaking his head and clearing his throat to try again. “Anyways, as I was _saying-_ ”

Parker’s D.D.D. rang this time, and sure enough, they held it up with a sheepish smile. “Well, he’s persistent!” They mused, before accepting the call and tucking the device up to their ear to speak into. “What?” They spoke so crassly to _Lucifer himself_ , and it just reminded Belphegor even more of why he’d taken a liking to them.

What he didn’t take a liking to, was how the conversation was going.

“Yes, I’m with Belphie,” Parker said, and he couldn’t make out what the words were, but he heard Lucifer’s voice raise on the other end of the receiver and watched Parker shrink away from the phone in recoil, rolling their eyes at getting their ear chewed off for no good reason. “No, I don’t know why you found Simeon in the library reading with Satan. Nor do I follow the correlation to why that somehow means Belphie’s in trouble… Okay, fine! We’ll be home soon enough. No, we’re not coming home right now, and you’re just going to have to deal with that! … What do you mean?! We’re at Hell’s Kitchen, is that a sin? … Okay. Alright. Fine, yes, see you at home.”

She hung up the phone and shook her head, grabbing another forkful of her bowl and finishing it off, wiping her hands on the napkin and looking up at the demon she was with. “We’d better get home soon. He was all _excited_ in that freaky Lucifer way that meant he was ready to deliver a punishment, and I am _not_ busting my ass off to get you out of any more enchanted rooms.”

Belphegor didn’t move for a moment, merely blinking as he quietly accepted to himself that Lucifer wasn’t even here and he’d managed to ruin something for him, and THAT took talent. Parker practically cleaned up for the both of them when he snapped back to reality and took the trash off their hands, insisting he would take care of it and throwing it out for them as they slung their drawstring back on and stood up to go. She took his hand again, and this time he was more confident in knitting their fingers together as they walked back to the House of Lamentation, and were met at the door by none other than the eldest himself, who had clearly been awaiting their arrival.

“Anything you have to say for yourselves?” Lucifer smiled scarily when neither demon nor human had any saving words, and began to read the riot act. “You DIRECTLY lied to me, I EXPLICITLY put terms and conditions to my agreeing to your little favor and you absolutely and outrightly went against them! Do you know what could have happened up there, and _you_ ,” he turned to Parker, because he’d be damned again if not targeting all those involved. “Not a single word of running off to the human world, you just galivanted up there with a demon _notorious_ for having tried to destroy it as a whole, all by yourself with no one else so much as knowing where y-”

Parker interrupted his lecture, throwing their hands out in frustration. “Nothing HAPPENED, Lucifer! My god, I get it, Belphie shouldn’t have lied or whatever, but he wasn’t even _trying_ anything up there! We went to the beach! That’s literally IT! Is that such a crime?”

“We’ll talk about this later,” he retorted back to her, which was Lucifer-Lecture-Talk for _you are dismissed._

“Fine,” the human grumbled, shoving both hands now in their pockets, wanting to go get showered and changed into dry clothes anyways. “I’ll see you both at dinner, then.”

They disappeared down the hall and into their bedroom, and Lucifer grabbed his baby brother’s arm before he could go do the same. “Not so fast with you,” he commanded, eyes turning steely again now that Parker had gone off. “You’re not off the hook. You not only gave me a fraudulent excuse to gain unauthorized use of the shortcut to the human world, but forcibly manipulated my to cheat the system in your favor as well. There’s no documentation of what you did up there, and I have no proof of how much they know or if you bribed them to fill a cover story… You are in SERIOUS trouble.”

Belphie yanked himself out of Lucifer’s grip, the frustration of not being able to have broached the topic of what they were resurfacing all at once in a snap back at his older brother. “Believe it or not Lucifer, I don’t _always_ have an underlying destructive agenda!! Did you see the smile on their face when they first walked in?! They were crying the other night about how much they missed the beach and the sun, I just wanted to make them happy and give them a beach day!! That’s IT!!”

Much to his despise, Lucifer only adorned a coy grin and crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh, I see now.” He tapped his forefinger against his jacket sleeve as Belphegor looked up at him in bewilderment, before letting out a small huff of amusement and speaking plainly as if it were obvious. “You have romantic feelings towards Parker. This was a date, hm?”

“WHAT?!” Belphie threw his hands out dramatically, in immediate denial as always. “ME?! As IF!! I don’t even LIKE humans, they’re gross!! N-No, I only did this as a favor, I can’t believe you’d actually think…!”

“So who knows?” Lucifer didn’t even acknowledge his vehement insisting one bit, merely continuing along as if he had said nothing.

“Huh?!”

“That you’re romantically invested in one another. I mean, Parker has always been distracted by you in one way or another, but it’s been particularly noticeable of late. I had thought it was one sided… But after all, since when do _you_ go to such lengths as to swindling me for _someone else_ and staying up _all day_ just to be with them in the human world?”

The demon of sloth had no rebuttal, and just grumbled at his older brother, hands forming tight fists as he scowled as menacingly as he could bear behind the embarrassment. “Don’t get the wrong idea…! You’re so… Gah!” He pushed past Lucifer and stormed down the hall, covering his once-again burning cheeks as he did so. Shoving his way into his room, he shrugged the backpack off and let it fall to the ground before flopping onto the bed and letting out a loud groan, which was very rudely interrupted by his D.D.D. pinging to notify him of a new chat.

**[CHAT FROM: absolute BRAT]**

**Thanks again for today!**

**[CHAT FROM: absolute BRAT]**

**< 3**

Letting the device drop onto his chest, Belphie pulled his hoodie up over his face to hide the smile that was blossoming on it. Maybe he didn’t know what they were quite yet… But whatever it was, it excited him. And he was okay with that.


End file.
